THE boss of booksellers Waterstones has vowed to keep the chain's Barrow branch open despite the departure of some other national retailers.

The last few years has seen chains including Pandora, Boots, Debenhams, M&S and River Island leave Barrow town centre.

But James Daunt, the managing director of the bookshop chain, said Waterstones would 'stay' in the town.

He complained that high street retailers were shutting up shops in town and city centres because of taxation.

"I can name 100 places where, pretty much, we're the last really big retailer still on those high streets," he told the Telegraph.

"Maybe a Greggs will hang around, sometimes a chemist, sometimes a bank. although there's even less of those nowadays.

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"In places in Newport, Gwent, or Barrow-in-Furness, these are the kind of places where we've stayed and we will stay, but most other retailers have gone.

"And the people we employ can't get jobs easily elsewhere."

Mr Daunt described business rates, which are set by central government and collected by local authorities, as a 'tax on employment' and took aim at online retailers.

He said: "We have a direct taxation upon our physical bookshops which an online retailer doesn't have. It is so egregiously large that it's directly counterproductive.

"Why make it so expensive for retailers to keep shops?"

Retailers including Sports Direct and Boots have closed high street stores in Barrow and moved to other parts of the town.

Mr Daunt previously said Barrow's Portland Walk Waterstones was among a number of the company's stores that did not many money but said it would continue operating.

Speaking to the Financial Times, he said: “We run quite a lot of marginal shops in places like Bolton, ­Barrow-in-Furness and Blackpool.

“I promise you Barrow-in-Furness does not make us money, but it seems important that it’s there.”

The bookshop chain has more than 280 stores across the country and employs about 3,000 booksellers.

A boost to footfall on Portland Walk is expected when BAE's training campus and visitor centre opens.

It is currently under construction with one of three parts of the development - a careers hub - already open.